This has been the rainiest summer/fall that Christchurch has had in ages. In March there was 4 times more rain than in your average March (thank you, cyclone Lusi.) Every time we visited Queenstown, we heard about the amazing weather they had been having, but it always rained. We are starting to feel like the rain follows us. We headed back down to Central Otago for a quick visit to Q-town, then a few days in Wanaka and a few days in Alexandra. Although we had some fair weather in Wanaka, the rain followed us to Alexandra. Which is a desert.
Anyways, thats my winge about the weather for now (except that, Im not even kidding, we are experiencing the end of Cyclone Ita - the one that devastated the Solomon Islands a few days ago… and once again the windows are rattling, the roads/houses are flooded, and it's raining inside my house in 4 places.)
Ok, now I'm done with the weather report. Back to last weekend.
Scott teamed up with a much faster partner than last year for the 6 Hour Super D in Queenstown. The gondola shuttled them up to the top of the hill, where they then zig-zagged back down, trading off turns, for 6 hours of fun/excitement/endurance/pain/torture.
Their hard work also paid off, as Scott and Nick took 3rd in the Men's Teams of Two, out of 33 teams.
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| They're team "Jamaican Hopscotch Mafia" - the ones in the matching hats. |
Meanwhile, while Scott was racing, I went out and did some very cold, wet shuttles with a few friends. I smashed the ground hard and thought I broke my hand. Oddly, a few ibuprofen, a few beers, and a good night sleep fixed it up right.
The next morning we rode some fun and some crazy trails in Wanaka. Scott and our friend Dane (visiting from the States) took turns hitting big jumps and drops, and I found my place as photographer.
Unfortunately Scott took a chunk out of his knee, causing him to take a very temporary break from riding on Sunday afternoon. This allowed some one-on-one coaching time for me, and I practiced getting my wheels in the air. Which is the scariest thing in the world, only secondary to giant squid.
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| You gotta start somewhere... |
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| My photographer is working on his skills, which might need close to as much practice as I do at jumping. |
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| Dane and Scott's new car. Both have superior off road efficiency. |
Dane left early Monday morning to fly back to the country where the sun exists, while Scott and I leisurely drove further down south to Alexandra. On the way, we stopped in the adorable (probably retirement) village of Clyde, which happens to have the most killer trail going. It's called Cup Cake Track, which makes me like it even more.
And it was sort of sunny-ish.
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| Wheels in the air! |
We stayed 12km south of Alexandra in a little stone building called "Paddys Cottage" (Rent It Here). It was built in the early 1900's out of stones from nearby ruins. Stone buildings were built in the 1800's during the Central Otago gold rush. There are barely any trees in the area, so people used the one resource widely available. Hence, ruins can be found all over the area today. Kinda neat.
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| Outdoor BBQ, indoor wood burner, lots of charm, sheep in nearby paddock, beds for 8 people, hot water for 2. |
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| Old-timey stuff. |
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| Cozy Stuff. |
We spent Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons riding in Alexandra on borderline illegal but completely ripper trails.
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| Alexandra is very cute. And kind of boring unless you are on a bike. |
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| Getting artsy. |
Good thing we filled up on adrenaline and smiles this week, as it looks like we'll be battening down the hatches for another 24 hours or so here in Christchurch. Hopefully the weather clears after this though, because we're going to try for a West Coast trip over Anzac weekend.
Hope it is sunnier where all of you are, and that you have a great Easter weekend!
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